“All Americans…. not only the states most heavily affected but in every place in this country… are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants; the public service they use impose burdens on our taxpayers. That’s why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens. In the budget I will present to you, we will try to do more to speed the deportation of illegal aliens who are arrested for crimes, to better identify illegal aliens in the work place as recommended by the Commission headed by former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. We are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws.” — President William Clinton

“Even as we are a nation of immigrants, we’re also a nation of laws. Undocumented workers broke our immigration laws and I believe that they must be held accountable; especially those who may be dangerous. When I took office, I committed to fixing this broken immigration system. And I began by doing what I could to secure our borders. But today, our immigration system is broken. And everybody knows it. There are actions I have the legal authority to take as President. Tonight, I’m announcing those actions. We’ll build on our progress at the border with additional resources for our law enforcement personnel so that they can stem the flow of illegal crossings and speed the return of those who do cross over. If you’re a criminal, you’ll be deported. If you plan to enter the US illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up. We expect people who live in this country to play by the rules. We expect those who cut the line will not be unfairly rewarded. The actions I’m taking are not only lawful; they’re the kinds actions taken by every single Republican President and every single Democratic President for the past half century. And to those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, question my authority, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: PASS A BILL!” — President Barack Obama

The hypocrisy about immigration rampant in the Democrat party and in the news media is disgusting. President Donald Trump’s goal is to make America safe and make us a nation of laws. It is to stop illegal immigration in its tracks. It is to pressure Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to act on the pillars of Trump immigration reform: end chain migration, end the immigration lottery, build the Wall, require E-Verify and base immigration on merit. It is to quickly process those who cross the border illegally and return them to their county of origin. It is to catch and remove illegal alien criminals. Very simple, very safe, and very American.

The citizens of the United States have a right to be angry. The laws about immigration passed by earlier Congresses are idiotic and self defeating. What were they thinking or could it be they were politically self serving? The worst are those that established chain migration where one immigrant could bring into our country dozens of relatives we know virtually nothing about and the one that established the practice of immigration by lottery. Both are insane. As President Trump has said, countries don’t put their best into the lottery system and in chain migration who knows who, including criminals and terrorists, are allowed in.

Now the big debate is about minors: unaccompanied “children” and those brought in illegally by parents. The solution to the “family” (i.e. father and/or mother with children) is very easy. Turn them around 180 degrees at the border and send them back to the country from which they came, immediately. Those minors that come alone need to be rounded up, cleaned up, fed, clothed, and then taken back to the country from which they came. No exceptions to those who cross the border illegally.

The separation of “children” from illegal alien parents has been a policy for many years. President Obama tried to hide the problem. And think about it, US citizens are separated from their children if arrested for a crime. Crossing the US border without authorization is a crime. Big surprise.

The so-called asylum laws must be revised. Potential immigrants that follow the law and show up at legal ports of entry should not be given asylum just because the country of origin is a mess. Most such countries are over populated, have corrupt governments, and are poor. The United States of America cannot be the Shanghai La for the world. Take a look at what has happened to the European countries that opened wide the door to immigration from countries in the Middle East and Africa. They have been transformed in most negative ways. Cultures are in the process of being lost. Crime rates are up. Enclaves of particularly Muslim immigrants have formed that even law enforcement is afraid to visit. If allowed, our country will experience the same only from hordes of immigrants from Central America and Mexico along with those who sneak in from other parts of the world.

The truth is the USA does not “need” more immigrants. Our population needs to stabilized at present levels to be sustainable for our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. This is not 200 years ago when the country offered wide open spaces and opportunities, assuming you have total disregard for what was done to the Native Americans. Those times have long passed.

Time to close the door. Build the wall and be very selective about who comes into the United States by whatever means, particularly to live permanently. Merit based immigration is the only answer and then only as a real need arises.

The political posturing must stop. The wants of those who demand open borders have to be blocked. Those include the multi-national corporations who want a constant supply of cheap labor. Those include sectors of corporate/industrial agriculture and construction as well. And they include the Democrats who want to promote a socialist country.

Congress has a chance to clean up the mess earlier Congresses created. Will they have the stature to do so. We shall see soon.

I hate to say this but you both and the Republican held Senate and House are a damned disgrace. I say this as a very angry life long and old Republican. What you did with the 2300+ page Omnibus bill was to hold the President hostage and screw the taxpayers of this country. The President and all of us in fly-over country absolutely wanted the military to be properly funded. However, we wanted, too, for the Wall to be properly funded and DACA to be dealt with including stopping chain migration and the Visa lottery, and wanted lowering legal immigration numbers. You have let the Democrats and RINOs run Congress. You, obviously, are among them. Shame, shame on you.

I am placing a bet today that Congress will be controlled by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer after the coming November election. Too many Republicans will simply stay home they are so disgusted with the way you have performed since November 2016 when the President carried the day for most of you.

Get off of your asses! You really do not know how angry people are. All Congressional incumbents need to be defeated except for the Freedom Caucus members and other likeminded Representatives and Senators.

In Indiana, we are going to do everything we can to see that Rep. Todd Rokita is defeated in his run for the US Senate. He represents the Establishment (SWAMP) just like the two of you do. In one of his current ads, among other things he claims he will push for term limits. We know that is simply BULL.

We do not understand the corruption in Washington DC. On top of the screwing up by the Republican Congress, we have an Attorney General that has totally given in to the other side. He has no backbone to do the right thing with Rosenstein, Mueller, and all the rest of the law breakers in or formerly with the Justice Department, State Department, and FBI. He has not pushed for pursuit of justice for any of the Clinton cadre. More Republican disgrace. Another independent Special Counsel is needed badly. Hopefully it would be one from outside of Washington DC where it appears the majority there are corrupt.

It is time for the world’s Good Samaritan and benefactor to look after its own. The heartfelt and generous acts of the people of the United States of America to save the world have turned to greed and expectations of forever handouts.

The civilized world was nearly destroyed by World War II. Europe and Japan were devastated. Cities were in ruin. Factories bombed out. Millions of lives lost. The United States escaped physical damage to its homeland, but suffered the loss of tens of thousands of its most valued possession: its people, its warriors. But what happened then? The people of the United States sacrificed even more through the pouring out of time, talent, money, and resources to rebuild Europe, Japan and the world. Civilization was restored.

A few years later came the Korean Conflict. US leaders decided the dominoes of spreading Communism needed to be stopped. Thousands more lives were lost and treasure spent before a 1953 stalemate was reached. You see where we are today. Through the generosity of the American people, South Korea became prosperous. North Korea descended into a despot lead hell that threatens the world.

Viet Nam followed. Another mission to stop Communism in its tracks. More loss of life and treasure. Millions of Vietnamese died and millions still suffer the after effects of that war. Tens of thousands of our own died. Thousands still suffer post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) and physical injury. This was lasted from 1955 to 1975. But with our help and resources, Viet Nam, too, is now prosperous.

All the while, the economic base of the United States was being eroded. The greatest damage accelerated in the President Clinton years starting in 1993. Clinton and his cadre decided the United States was to become a “service provider” country. The manufacturing needs of the world would be done elsewhere. Thousands were put out of middle class jobs. Cheap labor, inferior environmental regulation, and worker safety rules drew international companies to build and produce in foreign countries. Trade agreements such as NAFTA (1994) were lopsided against the United States. More inequitable trade agreements followed. Trade imbalances grew and the era of national debt began. Clinton was the last president to see a national surplus. Clinton’s presidency ended in January 2001 when George W. Bush became president.

The events of September 11, 2001, changed the world again. It was not long before President Bush and his band decided to attack Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein. Hussein had nothing to do with the bombing of the twin towers in New York, but Bush claimed falsely that Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. Result: more loss of American lives and treasure and total destabilization of the Middle East. What followed was the rise of al-Qaeda and radical Islamic terrorism in the form of ISIS, the Taliban, Boko Haram, and more. The consequences of decisions by Bush haunt us today. National debt accelerated.

President Barack Hussein Obama followed Bush. Matters became even worse. Obama was a true globalist. He weakened our military even more, apologized around the world for about everything the United States stands for, and with Secretary Hillary Clinton and John Kerry’ s help, further destabilized the world. The criminal deeds of Obama and Clinton are only now fully coming to light. National debt grew to nearly 20 trillion dollars.

In the meanwhile, it has been estimated that the United States has lost about 70,000 factories since the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Who knows how many more have been lost since the end of World War II in 1945. The United States has never stopped the “lift the boat” philosophy around the world. The US sends billions freely to so called “developing nations” [formerly “third world countries”] every year. In addition to free foreign aid, the United States has executed trade agreement after trade agreement that put our own workers on the street.

President Donald Trump, an outsider who was never supposed to win office, followed Obama. That was never supposed to happen. The political establishment and the globalists believed it would be President Hillary Clinton. The people thought otherwise. Trump is taking steps to restore the strength of the United States and put people back to work. Critical industry will return.

Tariffs on steel and aluminum imported into the United States are steps in the right direction. It is time to stop the “dumping” into our markets of steel and aluminum by such as China and South Korea. “Dumping” is the pricing of a product at below production cost made possible only because a foreign government has subsidized its production. The result is the undercutting of price from our own domestic factories and the loss of good jobs by our own workers. This is not a level playing field. President Trump has chosen to move to make it more so. It is time. His philosophy is free and, more importantly, fair trade.

To now, trade agreements have had a very negative affect on the trade balance between the US and the world. The value of imports to the United States should roughly equal the value of exports from the United States to other countries. If the so called balance favors other countries — i.e. more import value compared to export value — the United States continues to subsidize the world. That must stop. It is time to rebuild our own manufacturing base and put our own citizens back to work.

In the short term, tariffs will cause the price of some products to increase.Wall Street will not like it. The international corporations will loudly squawk and complain. They do not like any messing with short term profits. But this is the short term price we will have to pay and which people are willing to pay to rebuild a robust manufacturing base and the middle class in the United States of America. America First.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is not known for good decisions, but they got this one right. A couple of weeks ago they denied the FDA’s latest attempt to hide thousands of pages of key government documents related to the agency’s approval of genetically engineered (GE) salmon for human consumption.

That’s right. You read it correctly. Genetically engineered salmon are now destined for a place on your grocers counter and you will never know it. The FDA did not want the public to know details of the approval process gone through by the agency charged with the responsibility of keeping our food supply safe. Trust us, they said. The FDA did not want you to know why they approved an engineered salmon that contains DNA from the Atlantic salmon, the deep water ocean eelpout, and the Pacific Chinook salmon. This would be the first time any genetically engineered animal has been approved for commercial sale and ultimate human consumption.

What is the big deal about this fish? It is different. The GE version is intended to grow faster than conventionally farmed or wild-caught salmon. The reason: new DNA has been engineered in. The new DNA is a growth hormone gene that is turned on all the time. The GE salmon is claimed to get to commercial size in half the time. Further, it is claimed by the FDA to not be significantly different from wild-caught or farm raised salmon. The truth: it may look the same from the outside, but it is different genetically.

One big concern is if the GE fish were to escape into the wild. It could threaten wild salmon populations by out-competing them for scarce resources and habitat, by mating with endangered salmon species, and by introducing new diseases. The FDA has been heavily criticized for failing to fully evaluate these potential impacts. The developers claim these concerns are meaningless because the GE fish are to be sterile females all raised in confinement tanks. Even that raises additional questions. How are the GE fish becoming 100% female?

In short, the FDA wants to hide. The pubic has a right to know in detail how the agency came to its approval decision for genetically engineered salmon, especially because the FDA’s approach will likely serve as a precedent for the assessment of future GE food animals. The FDA is funded by tax dollars which means the records they create can and should be available to the public and to citizens seeking to know all. The only exceptions should be withholding information critical to national security.

Under the court ruling, the FDA is required to fully complete the record with all relevant documents regarding its approval of genetically engineered salmon. In this case, the public right to know is being protected. It is vital all government agencies get the message hiding is not acceptable. Are you listening EPA and USDA?

“Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans in the finite space of a planetary ecosystem as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive.” Pardot Kynes / Planetologist

Kynes, a fictional “planetologist” from the Dunes universe, has hit the nail right on the head. Too many people on a planet floating in the vast expanse of space, like Earth, leads to collapse of the supporting ecosystem and a race to the bottom for the quality of life. Ultimately, human life descends to the base needs of food, water, and shelter.

The United States of America is at a decision point. Population expansion and immigration pressures from all over the world are at our doorstep. We will face up to them or go down the road to eventual degradation if we have not already stepped foot on that road. The bold fact is that the United States of America does not need additional numbers of people. We need to be concentrating on elevating the quality of life for those already American citizens, not bringing more and more people in from other parts of the world.

Congress is in the process of playing games with the future of the country and the lives of our citizens. President Trump has already gone well beyond “compromise” with his four pillars of immigration policy reform. He has taken the position he will accept allowing nearly two million illegal immigrants a path not only to residency but to citizenship in exchange for building the southern border wall, ending the incredibly insane visa lottery program, and ending or severely curtailing chain migration. He has gone as far as he should go and maybe beyond; period. There are those of us who believe he has gone too far already in a willingness to appease or “compromise”.

The road block seems to be the U.S. Senate where presently 60 votes or more are required to pass any new immigration legislation. This matter is too critical to allow this. The future health or likely survival of this country is at stake. If there was an army at our door like was the case with World War II, we would not hesitate to take whatever action was required. We are at a similar point whether recognized or not. It is time for the U.S. Senate to face up and change its rules.

The success of passage of meaningful and tough immigration legislation that mirrors what has been proposed by President Donald Trump is in the hands of one person: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell is the road block. He is the one stopping the elimination of the 60 vote rule, part of which was eliminated by the Democrats when they controlled the Senate. The rest needs to now go. If it doesn’t, the future of the United States of America is in jeopardy and should be laid at the feet of McConnell and the Republicans. No excuses. And God help us if Democrats ever again gain control of Congress.

A whole cottage industry has sprung up around “anchor babies”. Illegal entry into the USA of pregnant women is expedited by criminals for profit. The women and their babies receive “free” medical care and then dependent child support under the Welfare system. The baby, a US citizen, and parents are allowed permanent residence.

Most recently, Democrats have artificially elevated DACA to a crisis. Yes, we are faced with what to do with the alleged 800,000 illegal aliens in the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program. The Center for Immigration Studies estimates the real number that are eligible or included is closer to 3.6 million.

In 2012, then President Obama decreed anyone in DACA would be allowed to stay in the USA without fear of deportation. He said he did not need Congress. He illegally acted with the stroke of his pen. Obama behaved as king or dictator. Now, we have the notorious 9th Circuit Court illegally blocking the ending of illegal DACA.

President Trump refused to extend this illegal program beyond six months. He said Congress was responsible for creating immigration law, not the President. He and Republicans have indicated a willingness to accept a permanent DACA solution including provisions for remaining in the US in return for funding of the border wall and ending chain migration and the immigration lottery system.

Democrats decided full amnesty for all in DACA is important enough to them that they shut down the federal government putting our nation’s security at risk. In return, they are not willing to end chain migration, the lottery system, or provide sufficient funding for the wall; all for recruitment of foreign born potential voters. No one is fooled. Their actions have nothing to do with compassion but rather with politics.

I propose no deportation for DACA high school grads who are fluent in English and who are in added education (college or technical school) AND graduate or have a productive job or who have served in the military. Deport all currently on public assistance programs or who commit a crime.

Any plan must be tightly predicated on funding of the wall and the ending of the anchor baby provision, chain migration, and the immigration lottery. Our country must control its border to prevent illegal immigration and stem the flow of drugs. The drugs are killing us and we must know who wants into the United States.

For those who cry we are a nation of immigrants, the immigration of the 19th and 20th centuries is not the same as today. There is no shortage of potential workers. We have over 90 million citizens out of the work force. They deserve priority. And, earlier immigrants made every effort to assimilate. That is no longer a given.

As citizens, we have been incredibly naive and negligent too long. It is past time to drastically reduce overall immigration and put any immigration there is on a merit based system that benefits our country economically and culturally. We are and will continue to be the compassionate melting pot of the world; not suckers.